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Warriors home opener ‘more than a game’

The Waterloo Warriors are back after a year suspension for steroid use on the team and are determined to rebuild their football program.

After a steroid scandal, the University of Waterloo suspended its football program for a year. The Warriors are back this season and play their home opener Saturday against Guelph.
(Randy Starkman / Toronto Star) | Order this photo

WATERLOO, ONT.—They could be any university football team preparing for a Saturday home opener.

The coaches shout out plays on a fresh fall evening.

“Fifty Frankenstein ... Sixty-eight Flip ... C’mon, let’s go.”

As nightfall approaches, some players on the sidelines engage in a game of catch at close quarters where they fire the ball at one other without letting the intended receiver know it’s coming.

“I hope they’ve got the lights working on Saturday,” says one of the players.

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It was definitely lights out for these guys last season.

They are the University of Waterloo Warriors, a team trying to claw its way back from football purgatory.

The Warriors have been where no Canadian team has gone before; first testing their entire squad after one of their players was arrested for steroid trafficking last year and then suspending the entire program for a season after eight athletes tested positive.

The clouds hanging over brand new Warrior Field aren’t just literal ones.

“It’s pretty sensitive around here still,” said senior receiver Dustin Zender. “Whatever we do, we have to understand we’re still in the spotlight of what happened.

“So everything we do we have to be extra careful, making sure that when we’re out in the community we’re holding doors open for people, doing the right thing. There’s more pressure on us than other teams in the OUA whether it’s football or non-football. But that’s a responsibility we’ve got to step up and take.”

Indeed, the university has given the players T-shirts with the word “stakeholders” emblazoned on them to emphasize what’s on the line.

“We’re trying to impress on the athletes it’s a lot more than 60 minutes on a Saturday afternoon,” said Waterloo director of athletics Bob Copeland. “There’s a lot more to it and a lot more people involved in it. Having been through what many of them have been through, they recognize it — it’s more than a game.”

And the games won’t be easy, either. The Warriors were thumped 86-22 in their season-opener by the No. 2-ranked Western Mustangs before 11,000 hostile fans in London, Ont. Talk about your trials by fire.

There are only nine players on the team with any league experience. This will be a teaching season for head coach Dennis McPhee, who was retained by the university despite the scandal because they felt he was a man of integrity who didn’t deserve to lose his job.

On this day, McPhee puts the team through its paces to get them ready for the Black and Gold game against Guelph to christen their new field but also has an eye on the future. He puts his arm around a first-year player from Halifax at one point and gives him a pep talk, telling him the reason he’s struggling is the other athletes have much more experience.

That scars remain from last year’s ordeal is apparent when you talk to any of the Warriors. Some are more willing to speak about it than others.

“It was one or two notches behind my father passing away,” said McPhee.

A plain-spoken guy, McPhee is asked if he sees this season as the team’s rebirth.

“Some people have mentioned Renaissance and some people have called it sort of a Phoenix rising sort of thing,” he said. “I look at it as a hard lesson learned.

“I wouldn’t wish it on any coach at any level or any team. But I feel there’s been a huge amount of education from it. I feel if people learn from it, then I’m looking at the world that has a glass half full now instead of half empty.”

That half full glass included task forces launched by the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sports and Ontario Universities Athletics. Among the recommendations were an increase in testing of football players from 2-3 percent to 30 per cent, mandatory drug education for coaches and other officials, and a drug tips hotline.

Paul Melia, CEO of the CCES, praises Waterloo and Copeland for taking the unprecedented step of testing their entire team once they realized there might be a problem with steroid use.

“It took courage and showed integrity,” said Melia. “They faced the problem head-on, demonstrated real leadership and they continue to be a big part of the solution going forward.”

Copeland, a former player at Waterloo, said not everyone thought they did the right thing and there’s no doubt the decision to suspend the program was a controversial. To this day, most veteran players decline comment on it.

“Some people said that we kind of did the testing of the whole team to our detriment in terms of what the outcome might have been,” said Copeland. “But this was never an exercise in public relations; it was an exercise to seek the truth. Although it’s been difficult, it was the right thing to do. We’ve got a longer-term horizon and that’s to effect change.”

Among the key returning players is quarterback/slotback Luke Balch, who after sitting out last year got to sharpen his skills this summer playing in the Futbol Amerikanski league in Poland for the Wroclaw Devils.

He’s eagerly anticipating the home opener on their new turf, the very same brand used by the New England Patriots.

“Hopefully we’re going to get a good crowd for Black and Gold Day,” said Balch. “People are going to come out and support us. It’s going to mean a lot. Some guys felt peoples’ backs were turned on the football program. Seeing people back out there cheering again is going to be great for the program and great for our spirits, to be honest.”

Most remarkable maybe is that they didn’t turn their backs on each other. Two players who admitted using steroids before the test were able to return to the team after a one-year suspension. Another still suspended has been making speeches to high schools about his mistake.

The veteran players who returned had made a pact with each other.

“Family comes first for me and my family’s here,” said Zender, a master’s theology student. “With my close friends and coaches, it makes it all worth it. Is it tough to lose? Yeah, I hate losing. I love to win. But at the same time, I know what we’re building here. It’s going to be a project for the future, but that’s what we’re here to help them with.”

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